The invention relates to a method for operating a communication network and to a configuration for carrying out the method. In the context of this application, the term xe2x80x9cdataxe2x80x9d also refers to voice data and signaling data. The term xe2x80x9ctransmissionxe2x80x9d encompasses the operations involved in transmitting and/or receiving both in the form of point-to-point and in the form of point-to-multipoint communication.
Communication networks permit temporary or permanent transport of information between spatially separate communication partners (subscribers). By way of example, the information can contain speech, text, characters, graphics, still or moving images. The information is passed along a fixed or variable path, the transmission path from a source to one or more sinks. The transmission path can contain a plurality of transmission sections over which the information is transported using various methods and forms of representation (analog, digital, multiplexed etc.).
To allow communication between particular subscriber stations, switching devices are generally required. The switching devices can be used to establish, along the transmission sections, communication links which can then be used to provide particular subscribers with particular telecommunication services (telephone (PSTN, ISDN), telephone conference, fax, videotex, voice mail, text mail, fax mail, data transmission, leased lines, ATM etc.). A particular telecommunication service can also be requested by the part of a telephone number.
In the context of the present application, a communication link is determined by the physical path which it takes within the communication network and/or by the telecommunication service possible via the communication link and/or by the subscribers provided with a telecommunication service via this communication link. Different telecommunication services can also be based on different data rates, different transmission methods or different communication protocols and can thus demand different technical prerequisites.
To provide these telecommunication services using a communication network, a multiplicity of different hardware units located at different points in the communication network are required. These include, by way of example, the hardware units for line terminating units, transmission and reception devices (transmission, reception diodes for optical fiber transmission, radio antennas, control devices etc.), the switching devices, multiplexers, switching matrices and transmission media (copper cables, coaxial cables, optical fibers etc.). A person skilled in the art will also understand the hardware units to be parts of larger hardware units, individual electronic components (processors, memories etc.), assemblies, plug-in units, plug-in cards, parts of data processing systems and entire control and monitoring systems.
A failure of one hardware unit generally results in failure of a plurality of communication links using the hardware unit for data transmission. The complexity of modern communication networks results in that finding the hardware unit that has failed and ascertaining the communication links affected by this can only be done with difficulty, if at all. However, ascertaining the hardware unit that has failed and the communication links affected by the hardware unit""s failure is very important for reliable provision of the telecommunication services offered and for correct charging.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a method and a configuration for operating a communication network which overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art methods and devices of this general type, which can both be used to operate a communication network as efficiently as possible.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a method for operating a network, which includes:
storing, in memory devices, information about an assignment of communication links to hardware units forming a communication network, the hardware units used for data transmission via the communication links;
ascertaining states and state changes of the hardware units;
transmitting information about the states and the state changes of the hardware units to control devices;
processing the information about the assignment of the communication links to the hardware units in the control devices; and
determining states of the communication links on a basis of the states of the hardware units used for the data transmission via the communication links.
Accordingly, the invention is based on the concept that information about the assignment of the communication links to the hardware units used for data transmission via the communication links is processed in order to determine the states of the communication links on the basis of the states of the hardware units, or vice versa.
In one preferred development of the invention, the states of the hardware units are ascertained and transmitted to the control devices, and, on the basis of this, the information about the assignment of the communication links to the hardware units is used to determine the states of the communication links.
Therefore the communication links, the telecommunication services or the subscribers affected by a hardware unit""s failure can be ascertained quickly and efficiently. This also allows hardware units that have failed to be replaced quickly. It is also possible to determine which telecommunication services were not available to which subscribers and when. This also permits correct charging. Subscribers can be informed online about the states of particular communication links and can configure particular communication links online as a result of their being granted partial access to the relevant data.
In a further advantageous variant embodiment, information about state changes in the hardware units is transmitted to the control devices. Thus, information is transmitted whenever there is a change of state in the hardware unit. Therefore, overall, less information is transmitted, the complexity of computation in the control devices is reduced and hence the complexity of operating the communication network is reduced.
In a further refinement of the invention, the states of the hardware units and/or the states of the communication links are described by sub-states defined by standards. This also simplifies implementation of the invention in existing communication networks. It is also conceivable for exactly the same terms to be used to describe the states of the hardware units and of the communication links. Therefore, the operator receives a description of the communication link, which he is already accustomed to, from the hardware units.
In order, by way of example, to block the communication link of a defaulting subscriber, one development of the invention allows the information about the assignment of the communication links to the hardware units to be used to ascertain the hardware units relevant to this communication link, and allows control information to be transmitted from the control devices to the hardware units in order to block specifically those hardware units causing the communication link for the defaulting subscriber to be blocked.
The result of introducing the invention into the system concept of intelligent networks, cellular mobile radio networks, satellite networks, circuit-switched or packet-switched communication networks, voice or data communication networks or integrated services communication networks (ISDN) is significantly more efficient operation of the communication networks than has previously been possible. The present states of the hardware units and of the communication links can be ascertained and queried online.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a method and a configuration for operating a communication network, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.